One of my favourite coaches of all time, Pat Burns, is fighting cancer for the third time.

Pat Burns

Burns, one of the most respected coaches out there, was diagnosed with lung cancer last May after the World Hockey Championships.

He successfully fought colon cancer in 2003-2004, and liver cancer in 2005. He doesn’t want to undergo any more chemotherapy, so he’s looking at other ways to fight it.

Burns has won the Jack Adams trophy for top NHL coach with three different teams, which is a record. It also shows how effective a coach he is. He’s only won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils, and coached the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Every time there’s a rumour of someone being fired, Burns name comes up as a replacement. Burns told La Presse newspaper that he wanted to get back into coaching this year.

“If it weren’t for this, I would have been back in the National Hockey League this year. I wanted to come back, I had interviews set up and permission from the Devils to consider the offers that people were making. But because of the cancer I’ve had to put all that aside,” he said.